Soldier Honored: Shawn P. Martin

In April 2007 Marine Sergeant Shawn Martin, an Enemy Ordnance Technician based out of Camp Pendleton, California, was deployed to Iraq with the 13th MEU where the unit began deactivating improvised explosive devices (IED’s). On June 20, 2007 the unit was sent to check for additional explosives in the city of Saqlawiyah where a U.S. vehicle had hit an IED. Martin and the team leader, Sgt. Stephen Wilson, were in the process of clearing the area when undiscovered explosives detonated, killing both men instantly.

Martin, from Delmar, New York, and his wife, Marianne, had been married less than five years at the time of his death. Before his deployment, the 30-year-old worked as a firefighter in Elsmere, NY. “He always wanted to be the guy who was running in to help someone,” said Marianne.